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Go to Kortwich. Over a weekend, rent a good and pricey shotgun and some other mic to compare, like a supercardioid or if they have, a cheaper shotgun like the NTG4. Plus a windscreen, a boom, a cable and the smallest/oldest recorder they have, or even just an SQN3 mixer or so. Play around with it, indoor, outdoor, in a staircase, in traffic. Bring a friend and try to point the mic to his or her voice. Then you know what a shotgun does and does not. For entry level shotguns, youtube reviews are a good resource, with sound samples included. Look for used film equipment rather than new musicians equipment.

Thank you for the hint.

The Rodeo NTG4 is a good choice, though.

I spent years on this forum reading as much as I could, and researching specific questions and issues, before I ever dared to post anything. I learned a lot just from that and it spared me a lot of embarrassment. one main piece of advice often given here is one that seems mean at first, but isn’t: do your homework first. Do yourself a favor by reading and reading first, there are so many resources available online today. All of your questions can be answered easily by just reading this forum.

Same here. First shorts and first jobs as a trainee on features were done with sound mixed down mono on Nagra 4.2 But there was still a sound editing and final re-recording mixing process down the line. That is why I was always reluctant to use the word « mixer », as I wrote it comes from the French terms. In my youngish foolish brain I associated « sound recordist » with the work on set that I loved, and « sound mixer » to the work in a dark studio done by people already bold at 30... (no offense) 😅 From then it remained a habit, encouraged by the fact that others, native English speakers, were using it too.

Oh dude totally. I’d bet there are many human bodies in that Sarpy swamp!

Yes you can provide power to 2 mics

If you want to throw it on the hot/cold shoe, a Sennheiser CA2 mount might do the trick with velcro. That's what I mostly use for my hops.

Hello JW gents and ladies, I am presently using the SR slide in box to attach my DCHR to cameras, it has some part that never quite come completely tight, what are you all doing in this regard?

Thnx David. The antenna mounts were from Ebay. The antenna mounts ( happy accident) are used to attach bag to the makerbeam/1/4 plywood frame. We'll see how they hold up-- They were about 10$ each.. This whole bag has been an experiment- so i have tried to keep it on the inexpensive side. If i find it is a manageable way to work with MINI- then i will upgrade some of the components( lighten it up too) and make it ready for prime time. j

Not me. More like Cinematographer vs. Camera Operator. And I am old enough to remember when a PSM actually mixed the track that was (mostly) used in the movie. D.

Is a 743 stereo cone usable for 2x individual phantom mics in x/y configurations with proper Y cabling? I suspect it is designed for single stereo mics but wanted to double check here

😲 Oh my... Thanks Bab414 and Jeff, that shed a complete new light on the term « sound recordist » I never ever thought of! So is it that bad? Have I been completely wrong and misleading in using «sound recordist » all this time for my job as production sound mixer on features and documentaries ?! On credits and even posters! My English speaking was nurtured in South Africa and also on set with US and UK crew shooting in Europe and Africa. I have never been told that I should use « sound mixer » rather. Any inputs from colleagues in the UK?

Welcome Meric! Even though this might seem like a rough start here there's actually some things to take away if you really want to start out in location sound. The list of links basically covers the most popular yt channels with tons of content and this forum is a gold mine once you're past the entry level, I might say... But it seems you're not really heading for a production sound mixer career (yet) and yes, there's probably better forums for sound fx and experimental recordings but since you're here I could try and contribute a little: Just try things out (as Olle said), you can basically let your creative spark flow (is that how you say it?). If what you are trying doesn't sound right try something else. You have a lot of freedom to fail compared to working on a film set... I think the interesting stuff in sound design is mostly not gear-related in a way that the best sounding mic really matters. So it's more about the sounds you find and how you record and manipulate them. So just get the used H4n that has been mentioned and it will record the interesting things well enough. Once you reach a limitation you can think about new gear but then you might know why you need something new. That being said, there's lots of fun experimental gear out there: stuff for recording electromagnetic waves, hydrophones or contact microphones... Check out LOM Audio for example: https://store.lom.audio/ Interesting stuff for experimenting but mostly out of stock sadly. There's this guy from freetousesounds that uses some of these mikes for experimental field-recording. He also has a yt-channel with a lot of content. If you're not into buying there's also lots of DIY to discover if you are at least a little into soldering. If the result sounds crappy it might be just perfect for a certain effect. If you want your short films to be "serious short films" then you should figure out what you really want to do yourself. David Lynch doesn't record dialogue himself. If you want to direct your own movies and want to contribute crazy sound designs in post just do it but if you're not really sure wether you want to dig deeper into the "on-set" world of sound then you'll be 10 times better off if you find someone else who knows and loves this stuff. Talking about software for sound design I don't think the DAW matters at all. You can achieve a lot with some filters and time stretch, even Audacity will do. If you don't mind visual programming I would recommend checking out Max/MSP or PureData (the OpenSource-Version, kind of). There's also a huge amount of documentation about it. So yeah, my two cents... Don't let yourself get discouraged by the opinions of professionals but listen to them. If they're saying you're on the wrong track for amazing-sounding dialogue (or even decent, clean dialogue), they're probably right. But this is something very specific then.

Originally, at least in the US, the Recordist was a position established I believe in the early days of Optical Recording and certainly was a position for most of the years of on set Magnetic sound recording on film. The sound crew was almost always 4 persons: a Sound Mixer (also the head of department), Boom Operator, Utility person and the Recordist. The Recordist job was primarily setting up the recording equipment (aided often by the Utility person) and then while shooting,, monitoring the performance of the recorder, keeping the sound logs, and so on. So, the Recordist, in fact, was not "mixing" anything -- that was all done by the Sound Mixer, usually the Sound Mixer had little to do with the operation of the recorder. As for the ongoing discussion of what to call ourselves, I vote for continuing to refer to us as Production Sound Mixers. One very important thing to consider, as has been mentioned in this thread, is the importance of using the title/position that has been established by the Union. Arbitrarily changing it jeopardizes adherence to the contract (both sides) and can cause problems being paid properly. I am well aware of the efforts in the UK to change some of these titles but this is being done in conjunction with Union practices and is being done to try and elevate the various positions and pay scales.

Not exactly on topic but I had an older colleague tell me he was a recordist for many years. I asked him what shows he mixed and to my confusion, he said he never mixed. He then explained that he would "record" (transcribe) the sound reports for the mixer, which was the primary job of the position which would later become known as the utility back then. I haven't heard that anywhere else...

Personally, I view the distinction of Production Sound Mixer vs. Sound Recordist the same as Cinematographer vs. Videographer.

Hi and thanks everyone, JonG that is precious information and we can all benefit from knowing what to look out for in our contracts and invoices! The Emmy story of your friend is disturbing. How can they not figure it out? Philip, thanks for the info on the union production practice in the USA, it confirms my supposition. About being properly credited in my experience whatever is agreed on the contract regarding job title is what is seen on the credit, and sometimes foreign productions -non French non English speaking- ask me what I would like while drafting the contract. I tend to say Sound Recordist as a habit from the times when I was mistaking Sound mixer and Re-recording mixer (the latest translates as "mixeur" in French while we use "Chef Opérateur du son" for production sound recordist/mixer) 😁 Codyman you might be right in term of habit, UK and South African and Kenyan productions I worked with use or agree on Sound Recordist (Production Sound Recordist also). I have never been asked to use Sound Mixer only yet! Obviously never done a US union job, although I worked for US productions overseas. I am sure others can give inputs, especially from all the diverse areas of the world represented here 🙂

I really like the Sonosax and I use it as my computer sound interface. Word of warning about that though. Set the screen to automatically turn off as mine now has screen burn in. 😭

I've had the opposite experience about "box rental" with PR companies, including on a very big show this year, so go figure. I just do what they tell me to do. It's important to get productions to properly credit you, or to credit you as you wanted to be credited, more like. Lately I've noticed that the title "sound designer" has become an acceptable and listed title on IMDB, whereas before it was a non-category that threw up flags, so these things evolve. I do think it is important to patrol IMDB etc and make sure you are properly credited on the shows you work--you can't count on the prod co to get it right, or even credit you at all, really.

Nice John. The MakerBeam stuff is a neat idea. I think when I looked at the 8020 10 series, just a basic one foot piece of the extruded material was close to a pound. The MB at 10mm probably weighs 6-8oz per foot. I would offer if you decide to add the Hydra or just change things look at the birch plywood laminated carbon fiber. A 12x12x1/16" piece weighs about .43lbs. I am curious what you are using to support and manipulate the SNA antennas? David

I think it is important to get this right. I had a friend miss out on an Emmy because production credited him as a Sound Recordist instead of a Production Sound Mixer. I’ve also heard that even some production insurance companies are sticklers for official titles. I know that if your equipment is paid to you via a box/kit rental from payroll, as opposed to a “sound equipment package rental” invoice, they won’t insure the equipment and deny a claim, because a sound equipment package rental is not a box rental or a “kit”. I’ve even spoken to payroll companies about this, and they say the same thing, that sound equipment is not a box rental, and to not list it as such, but to invoice the production company directly. Sorry to get a little off topic, but for the sake of the conversation I figured I’d add to the discussion.

I have powered it previously from a Remote Audio BDS, with the regular BDS cable w/Lectro plug. Currently from a RA MEON LiFE, with a cable I made (4-pin XLR to Lectro plug). No regulator.

Indeed it has been. I'm half way through Part II and it is definitely fascinating both visually and audibly. Seems Mr. Sutton and Mr. Johns did the best they could in 1969 to record everything but it's amazing what the new tech and the crew harnessing it has done to bring it back, including all the private sidebar conversations. Beware of the hidden flower pot plant mic!

I could be wrong but it seems in North America it is production sound Mixer and in the Commonwealth, sound recordist.